BERLIN, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- German carmaker BMW is building four gigafactories with its Chinese partners, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) and EVE Energy, to produce a new generation of more powerful electric car batteries, the company said on Friday.
China's battery manufacturers CATL and EVE will be involved in the construction of two factories each in Europe and in China. In addition, two more factories are planned in North America. According to BMW, all six gigafactories will have a production capacity of up to 20 gigawatt hours.
The batteries produced in the new plants will have a 20 percent higher energy density, allowing faster charging and 30 percent more driving range. "The newly-developed sixth generation of our lithium-ion cells will bring a huge leap in technology," said BMW AG board member Frank Weber.
Compared to its predecessor, the new battery cell would reduce the cost of high-voltage storage by up to 50 percent, according to BMW. The German luxury carmaker is seeking to "bring manufacturing costs for fully-electric models down to the same level as vehicles with state-of-the-art combustion-engine technology."
The new generation of batteries is designed to be not only more powerful and less expensive, but also more environmentally friendly. CO2 emissions in cell production is to be reduced by up to 60 percent.
To this end, all project partners are to use green electricity in production while the required lithium, cobalt and nickel are to be partially recycled.
"Reuse of raw materials will be one of the success factors for e-mobility in the future," BMW noted. In the long term, the carmaker wants to use fully recyclable batteries for its electric cars. By 2025, the company expects to have sold more than two million fully electric BMW vehicles.
In 2030, almost every second car sold worldwide will be a battery electric vehicle (BEV), totaling 42 million units, according to auditing and consulting services company PwC Strategy& (Germany).
China is to remain the leading market with 19 million BEVs, ahead of the European Union (EU) with 12 million, according to the company. ■
